DOES JESUS EVER DELIGHT OVER YOU TO DESTROY YOU AND TO BRING YOU TO NOTHING? (Deuteronomy 28:63). Well, if you read the Old Testament by the dead letter, then the answer is YES, Jesus delights to destroy us and bring His people to nothing whenever they disobey or disbelieve Him. Deuteronomy 28:63 LITERALLY says that He does. But, if you choose to read the Bible by the Spirit of New Testament better instead of the Old Testament letter, then you will see that Jesus would never say such a horribly cruel thing, and in fact never did. Here is the pivotal issue. The Old Testaments view of God and Satan was UNDIFFERENTIATED. The Old Testament saints had developmental limitations due to their lack of indwelling by the New Covenant Spirit. Galatians rightly says the OT saints were spiritual children in need of a tutor. Jesus also warned the disciples pre-Pentecost that they couldnt bear to hear all the truth about Satan until their later Spirit-indwelling. John 16:12. Because of their developmental limitations, they simply could not grasp the spiritual realities of the Satanic grounding of evil. They wrongly thought Satan was Gods left hand, His angry voice, His official minister of wrath, His obedient death angel who simply carried Gods presets of destruction on the disobedient. We now know, because of the indwelling New Covenant Holy Spirit, that Satan is the agent of destruction, not God. Jesus entire ministry was focused on casting out Satans influence wherever He went (Acts 10:38; 1 John 3:8). From healing demonic oppression, to casting out unclean spirits, to rebuking Satanic impulses, to delivering the afflicted from devilish disease, Jesus revealed Satan was no left hand of God. Satan was a cosmic rebel whose enemy works Jesus came to destroy. So, we, as New Testament believers, must ADJUST, and CORRECT the Old Testament passages by inserting Satan BACK INTO the passage as the true REBEL author and source of evil, death, plague, destruction, depression, oppression, wars and disasters. If we dont see Satan imbedded in every wrathfully destructive Old Testament passage, then we arent reading with New Testament light. The cure for the Old Testament is simple. Read it with Jesus New Testament Spirit looking over your shoulder and speaking light into your spiritual ear. Let Him explain where both the sinister Satan and His loving Abba are in each passage. Jesus will show you where His Father of Lights shines and where the Prince of Darkness lurks hidden in the destructive shadows. Let Jesus re-divide each Old Testament event for you by differentiating which part of it is OF God and which part is OF Satan. Like the old childrens game WHERES WALDO?, Jesus wants to reveal every Old Testament page with New Testament precision of where He is and WHERE WALDO/SATAN is. He wants to replace the Old Testament letter with the New Testament better. As you read the reasons/verses below, ask yourself who is this PASSAGE really describing-- Jesus or Satan. Ask the Spirit to bear witness to your inner man just who is who here, and He will! The Deuteronomy 28 curses listed below which come on disobedient Israelites, when read with NT light, just warn us that our increasing and willful unbelief can give Satan greater and greater access to work various destructions in our lives. As for me, I will never agree that the Jesus I know, through both the Holy Spirit and the Gospels, would ever, could ever, perform the below atrocities. Satan, yes, but Jesus never! Jesus saves is from destruction, He doesnt delightfully bring it. But, thats not the only horrible thing the OT accuses God of doing. Here are 15 other accusations from the same OT passage in Deuteronomy 28. We must not read the Old Testament literally, by the letter, in other words, but instead read it by the Spirit as 2 Corinthians 3:6 instructs us: 1) The LORD will rejoice over you to destroy you, and to bring you to nothing. Deuteronomy 28:63. WHAT???? 2) The LORD shall make the pestilence cleave unto thee, until he have consumed thee. Deuteronomy 28:21. YIKES!!!! 3) The LORD shall smite thee with a consumption , and with a fever , and with an inflammation , and with an extreme burning , and with the sword , and with blasting , and with mildew ; and they shall pursue thee until thou perish. Deuteronomy 28:22. OUCH!!!!! 4) The LORD shall make the rain of thy land powder and dust : from heaven shall it come down upon thee, until thou be destroyed. Deuteronomy 28:24. GULP!!!!!! 5) The LORD shall cause thee to be smitten before thine enemies : thou shalt go out one way against them, and flee seven ways before them: and shalt be removed into all the kingdoms of the earth. And thy carcase shall be meat unto all fowls of the air , and unto the beasts of the earth , and no man shall fray them away. Deuteronomy 28:25-26. EEEWWW!!!! 6) The LORD will smite thee with the botch of Egypt , and with the emerods, and with the scab , and with the itch , whereof thou canst not be healed. Deuteronomy 28:27. GROSS!!!! 7) The LORD shall smite thee with madness , and blindness , and astonishment of heart : And thou shalt grope at noonday , as the blind gropeth in darkness , and thou shalt not prosper in thy ways : and thou shalt be only oppressed and spoiled evermore. Deuteronomy 28:28-29. OMIGOSH!!!! 8) The LORD shall smite thee in the knees , and in the legs , with a sore botch that cannot be healed , from the sole of thy foot unto the top of thy head. Deuteronomy 28:35. SHEESH!! 9) The LORD shall bring thee, and thy king which thou shalt set over thee, unto a nation which neither thou nor thy fathers have known ; and there shalt thou serve other gods , wood and stone. Deuteronomy 28:36. HE MAKES ME SERVE OTHER GODS??!! 10) Moreover all these curses shall come upon thee, and shall pursue thee, and overtake thee, till thou be destroyed ; because thou hearkenedst not unto the voice of the LORD thy God , to keep his commandments and his statutes which he commanded thee: And they shall be upon thee for a sign and for a wonder , and upon thy seed for ever. Deuteronomy 28:45-46. ON MY CHILDREN FOREVER AND EVER??!! 11) Because thou servedst not the LORD thy God with joyfulness , and with gladness of heart , for the abundance of all things; Therefore shalt thou serve thine enemies which the LORD shall send against thee, in hunger , and in thirst , and in nakedness , and in want of all things: and he shall put a yoke of iron upon thy neck , until he have destroyed thee. Deuteronomy 28:47-48. HE CONTROLS MY ENEMIES??!! 12) The LORD shall bring a nation against thee from far , from the end of the earth , as swift as the eagle flieth ; a nation whose tongue thou shalt not understand ; A nation of fierce countenance , which shall not regard the person of the old , nor shew favour to the young : And he shall eat the fruit of thy cattle , and the fruit of thy land , until thou be destroyed : which also shall not leave thee either corn , wine , or oil , or the increase of thy kine , or flocks of thy sheep , until he have destroyed thee.... And thou shalt eat the fruit of thine own body , the flesh of thy sons and of thy daughters , which the LORD thy God hath given thee, in the siege , and in the straitness , wherewith thine enemies shall distress thee. Deuteronomy 28:49-51, 53. HE WILL SEND AN ENEMY WHO CAUSES ME TO EAT MY OWN CHILDREN???!!! 13) The LORD will make thy plagues wonderful , and the plagues of thy seed , even great plagues , and of long continuance , and sore sicknesses , and of long continuance . Moreover he will bring upon thee all the diseases of Egypt , which thou wast afraid of ; and they shall cleave unto thee. Deuteronomy 28:59. WONDERFUL PLAGUES???!! 14) Moreover he will bring upon thee all the diseases of Egypt , which thou wast afraid of ; and they shall cleave unto thee. Also every sickness , and every plague , which is not written in the book of this law , them will the LORD bring upon thee, until thou be destroyed. Deuteronomy 28:60-61. DESTROYED BY GOD???!! 15) The LORD shall give thee thee a trembling heart , and failing of eyes , and sorrow of mind : And thy life shall hang in doubt before thee; and thou shalt fear day and night , and shalt have none assurance of thy life : In the morning thou shalt say , Would God it were even ! and at even thou shalt say , Would God it were morning ! for the fear of thine heart wherewith thou shalt fear , and for the sight of thine eyes which thou shalt see. Deuteronomy 28:65-67. THE LORD MAKES US FEARFUL AND MISERABLE FOR NOT LOVING AND OBEYING HIM??! ! OR, OR, OR, Could it just be that Satan is the REAL one inflicting these crippling curses listed above, curses through which WE give him access to inflict by our unbelief and subsequent quenching of Gods protective presence? When we welcome Satans spirit of fear, neglect, unbelief, and mis-belief toward Jesus, we thereby open a Pandoras box of potential destructions. But, as we yield our hearts of faith back to God, the Lords protective presence is able to quickly manifest to rescue and protect us from all harm. This then is the pivotal point to glean from the above passages: BE AWARE OF WHAT CAUSES THE LORDS PROTECTIVE PRESENCE TO WAX AND WANE! Our fear, neglect, unbelief, and mis-belief causes it to wane, while our faith, hope and heart focus causes it to wax. There are certainly OTHER factors which can allow greater Satanic access into our lives as well, many of which are the equivalent of second hand smoke from other nearby parties which have blown various oppressions our way. But Gods waxing presence can even help reverse those. This passage then is simply the Lord warning the people of the dynamics which cause His protective Spirit of blessing to wax and wane. Satan attacks in these vacuums caused by the Lords grieved or quenched state at our unbelief. This is why the New Testament warns us not to quench (1 Thessalonians 5:19) or grieve (Ephesians 4:30) the Holy Spirit, for to do so gives Satan increased access to oppress us. Give no place to the Devil. Ephesians 4:27.
Posted on: Tue, 01 Apr 2014 22:23:56 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015